


sto-len

by astrangetypeofchemistry



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Pining, forced confession, non-happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28868367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrangetypeofchemistry/pseuds/astrangetypeofchemistry
Summary: What do you do when your own words are stolen from you?
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	sto-len

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally gonna have a happy ending... but fuck it lmao

Falling in love is a simple feat. Nino stares at Marinette’s smile through the lens of his camera, snaps a picture, and grins at her to signal that the picture came out okay. Her eyes light up, smile widens, and she turns to Alya to discuss where they can hang it up. 

His heart is gone before its next beat.

* * *

The same scenario plays out in his mind.

They’ll go out as a group, Marinette sandwiched between Alya and Adrien as she speaks, hands gesturing and volume rising with the size of her passion. Her words will fly out of her mouth at a speed almost impossible to catch, sentences and ideas blurring together. Nino will be just a step ahead, afraid that if any of them catch a glimpse of his expression they’ll know how he feels. 

And then Marinette will grab his arm and laugh, telling him to walk slower because his legs are too long and they have to speed up to keep up. He’ll toss his head back and grin before taking off at a run, Marinette right at his heels the entire way. They’ll duck and weave through the streets, dodging the other pedestrians as they stay close to each other, even if Adrien and Alya fall behind. 

Somewhere somehow, with one burst of energy Marinette catches up to him enough to tackle him, arms wrapping around his abdomen, giggling as she tells him he can’t ever run away from her. His only response is that he doesn’t even want to, words that he can’t bring himself to say sitting at the tip of his tongue. 

Marinette hears them anyway, because she has some insane ability of reading people, her breath stolen from her lungs at the intensity behind his eyes. Her hand travels up to rest at his jaw, heart gripped with an emotion even she can’t fully comprehend. 

Then they’re kissing, like there’s a jump in time and there’s no need to worry about talking through the feelings they’ve hidden. Everything turns out okay, stars align, the Earth keeps spinning, and the lights of Paris keep shining as life goes on. 

There’s no time jump in real life, no fantasy scenarios that make everything Just Perfect. Real life is messy and ugly, and love even more so. 

* * *

It comes out at the wrong time, under the wrong circumstances, in an argument where emotions like that have no place being exposed. It comes out through someone else’s mouth, being expressed by a voice that Nino’s own chords don’t possess.

Marinette and Alya are fighting, which is rare in and of itself. The two friends are prone to talking out their differences in private, agreeing to disagree where needed and finding a middle ground when it eases their mind. To have them avoid each other and refuse to be seated together is the first warning sign that something is Very Wrong Indeed. Nino’s stupid heart, drawn to the pout of Marinette’s lips and the slump of her shoulders seeks to give comfort to her. 

Alya takes offense, because Adrien is too busy to back her up that week, leaving her alone in her rage. There’s fire in her eyes when she sees Nino, anger that has grown and grown from being alone and in her own head. When Nino tries to greet her she turns away, telling him that he’s a traitor and to stay away. Marinette overhears and jumps to defend, never to let someone fight battles they’re not at fault for. 

“Shut up,” Alya snaps, shoulders hunched and hands curled into fists. “This isn’t about you. This is about Nino being stupidly in love with you and not having the courage to admit it. Why else would he just blindly choose you over me?” 

Marinette shakes her head and laughs, bitter and angry and  _ upset _ , rolling her eyes at Alya as if the mere idea that Nino could have feelings for her is absurd. “Don’t be ridiculous. Nino’s just being a good friend.”

Except she makes the mistake of looking at him at that moment. And Nino is just hopelessly in love with this girl who has calluses in her fingers and sketches on napkins. He’s enamored with pink walls and soft blankets and warm treats from the bakery. It’s open on his face and he knows Marinette can see it, can read it on his open face as he meets her eyes. 

He turns away before she can say a word, leaving the quarreling best friends and his own broken heart behind.

* * *

There are apologies blowing up his phone when he pulls himself out of his naps. Nino glances at them, briefly, taking them in and yet not at the same time, and he knows he holds no bitterness. His heart can’t handle the burden of a bitterness that would settle in deeply and affect whatever he does. So he sends off a simple “dw about it” to Alya and rolls back over in his bed.

His heart is both lighter and heavier, like a weight has been forcefully lifted off, the one he’s become accustomed to for so long, but that force has left its own scars on him. He’s no longer burdened by his own feelings, but he’s filled with the worries of confronting the aftermath of the expression of those emotions. 

But still, he thinks, it’s his fault. For having feelings. For loving Marinette so deeply that everyone but the girl in question knew. For being so bad at hiding how he felt that it took Alya five minutes to figure it out. For giving her the opportunity to voice them without his consent.

He’s not bitter, though. Never could be. Just has this ache in his heart that he’s going to keep shoved in there, because he’s learned his lesson about letting things escape the chambers of the organ in his chest. He thinks he’s better off closing things off in there with heavy locks no one but him knows how to break.

And if that means he’s got to make his heart impenetrable, then that’s what he’ll have to do.


End file.
